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Gay rights push threatens immigration deal

Republicans warn that Democrats will tank the whole bill if they include the provision. | Reuters

Except, it seems, on this issue.

Senate Majority Whip Dick Durbin (D-Ill.) and Sen. Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) — the only Democratic members of the negotiating group on the Judiciary Committee — have signaled to gay rights advocates that they would support the amendment if it were offered.

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Schumer is in a particularly tough spot. As a leader of the Gang of Eight, he’s trying to maintain as broad of a bipartisan coalition as possible so the legislation becomes unstoppable. If the Republicans make good on their threats, then his hope of a bill that wins 70-plus votes in the Senate — giving it more momentum going into the less friendly House — likely vanishes.

But Democrats in the Gang of Eight have already twice angered gay rights activists: first when the group released its immigration reform principles in January that excluded the same-sex protections, and again when the actual bill came out last month.

“I’ve gotten two ‘I’m sorry’ phone calls from Senator Schumer. I don’t want another one,” said Rachel B. Tiven, executive director of Immigration Equality, which advocates for equal immigration and asylum rights for lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgendered individuals. “He has said it will happen in committee.”

Schumer refused to address the issue when approached last week in the Capitol.

“No comment,” he said, scolding a reporter for trying to get him to talk about it. “No comment. No comment.”

Democrats hold a 10-8 majority on the Judiciary Committee, so losing even one vote means the amendment would die.

Although she has been strong on gay rights issues, Feinstein has not said whether she supports the measure. Given her lead role in negotiating a section of the immigration bill on agricultural worker visas, she could side with Republicans by claiming that the amendment jeopardizes the reform effort.

But Tiven and other advocates have been arguing to Democrats that Republicans, despite their warnings, won’t oppose immigration reform over this single issue. If they did, the GOP would be staking out a position that runs counter to a re-branding effort aimed at broadening its appeal, particularly among constituencies with growing clout.

“Alienating the majority of the country that sees LGBT equality as a done deal is a losing issue for them,” Tiven said.

But critics argue that it’s more complicated than gay rights advocates make it seem.

The debate isn’t settled in the Republican Party, according to polls, which show that a majority of its voters oppose gay marriage.